Today we caught the 732am train to Milan which arrived about 9am. We caught the metro from Centrale to Duomo station. Our hotel is literally around the corner from the main square!
First we went to the duomo which is beautiful and all white marble, a bit different to any of the others we have seen! We decided to climb up onto the roof later in the day as it was still cloudy early on. We looked inside though which was very gothic!
Next we walked through the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel II, lined with seriously expensive shops and restaurants! Very beautiful though and the oldest shopping mall in the world. We come back here on our tour tomorrow so more details then!
Then we went to the Sforza castle complex, which used to house the rulers of Milan in about the 1500s. Like Castelvecchio in Verona this was full of museums with frescoes, sculptures etc. This one also had a furniture through the centuries collection though which was interesting. The last sculpture Michelangelo ever sculpted was also here - Pieta Rondanini. We then walked through the gardens here which was lovely in the sun!
We went back to the hotel and checked in, then went out for some shopping! Mum bought two dresses and I bought 1! That was at a shop in our price range haha. Then for fun we walked through the exclusive area and saw the likes of Prada, dior, amarni, dolce and gobana etc. etc. Can't for the life of me understand how anyone justifies paying that much for clothes!
As I type this I am waiting in a queue outside the la scala opera house. We by chance found out how to get cheap tickets for tonight's opera, 'Fallstaff' but nothing in Italy is very logical so so far we have been made to wait in two queues for forty minutes and haven't moved once. So hopefully soon we will get moving out of the cold because I forgot my gloves and scarf in the room! My fingers are having great difficulty typing this! We think we will probably leave at interval though because obviously its all in Italian and I will probably be bored!! Lol. But it will definitely be a unique experience.
A few random things about Milan that I forgot to include! We stumbled upon a fashion shoot in the gardens behind the castle. It was a top of 6 degrees today and a girl about my age was in a thin summer dress with the biggest heels I've ever seen and a little white dog with a pink jacket on! The whole thing looked ridiculous!!
We also saw an Asian lady get in a huge fight with an Italian man over a car accident! Now Italians are loud normally, with every word pronounced full of emotion, but you can imagine what this man was like when the lady hit his car - hilarious - was great entertainment for us while sitting eating lunch!
We also saw a man riding down the street on his bike on his phone with a fluffy white dog in the basket wearing a coat and earmuffs! Hahaha. There are so many stereotypical fashionistas here with huge heels, tiny dogs in dolce and gobana coats etc. so funny!
A not so funny part is the 100 million African people approaching us trying to forcibly weave a bracelet around your wrist and then demand you pay them for it. I had this happen in 2010 in Paris, luckily I was a good actress and said all I had was 2 euros, but they won't get me this time! It's been 5 weeks and I'm a pro now at saying 'NO!' and storming off before they get the chance. There are also people putting random books in your face and silly toys. A nice change From umbrella people in Rome and Florence though!
Will let you know how the opera goes on tomorrows post if this queue ever moves!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxoxox
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